#1 - Man at the Helm
Meet Lizzie Vogel, 9.
Lizzie is concerned about her newly divorcée mother - thirty-one years old, with three young children and a Labrador in a hostile village in the English countryside.
It isn't that having a husband is good, but in 1970s rural Leicestershire, not having one is bad. The women in the village think Lizzie's mother is after their husbands and no one will let the children into the Brownies. And so Lizzie and her sister embark on a misguided campaign to find a new Man at the Helm.
Lizzie is concerned about her newly divorcée mother - thirty-one years old, with three young children and a Labrador in a hostile village in the English countryside.
It isn't that having a husband is good, but in 1970s rural Leicestershire, not having one is bad. The women in the village think Lizzie's mother is after their husbands and no one will let the children into the Brownies. And so Lizzie and her sister embark on a misguided campaign to find a new Man at the Helm.
#2 - Paradise Lodge
This is the story of Lizzie Vogel, a 15 year old girl who finds herself working in an old people's home in the 1970s. The place is in chaos and it's not really a suitable job for a schoolgirl: she'd only gone for the job because it seemed too exhausting to commit to being a full-time girlfriend or a punk, and she doesn't realise there is a right and a wrong way to get someone out of a bath.
Through a cast of wonderful characters, from the assertively shy Nurse who only communicates via little grunts to the very attractive son of the Chinese take away manager, Paradise Lodge is the story of being very young, and very old, and the laughter, and the tears, in between.
Through a cast of wonderful characters, from the assertively shy Nurse who only communicates via little grunts to the very attractive son of the Chinese take away manager, Paradise Lodge is the story of being very young, and very old, and the laughter, and the tears, in between.
#3 - Reasons to be Cheerful
Teenager Lizzie Vogel has a new job as a dental assistant. This is not as glamorous as it sounds. At least it means mostly getting away from her alcoholic, nymphomaniacal, novel-writing mother. But, if Lizzie thinks being independent means sex with her boyfriend (he prefers bird-watching), strict boundaries (her boss keeps using her loo) or self-respect (surely only actual athletes get fungal foot infections?) she's still got a lot more growing up to do.